1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a journal device which is to be connected for use with such product sales data processing devices as an ECR (Electronic Cash Register) and a POS (Point Of Sales) terminal to print data accompanying product sales on journal paper and, more particularly, to a journal device which facilitates retrieval of printed data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Journal devices are units which are to be connected for use with product sales data processing devices such as an ECR and a POS to print data (date of sale, product name, price, the number of products sold, etc.) accompanying product sales on journal paper and which mainly include a driving unit for taking up and running journal paper and a printing unit for printing data on the journal paper. Conventional journal devices in general have no function of retrieving journal data printed on journal paper. For retrieving journal data, therefore, journal paper taken up by a driving unit should be manually unrolled and forwarded to retrieve target data while checking data one by one.
However, a common journal paper is as long as 40 to 50 meters on which 500 to 800 data is recorded. Manual data retrieval therefore needs enormous labor and costs enormous time to find target data.
To reduce the above-described labor required for manually retrieving journal data and cut down a retrieval time, a journal device which automatically retrieves journal data is proposed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open (Kokai) No. Heisei 6-251255, entitled "Product Sales Data Processing Device". Structure of the journal device disclosed in this literature is shown in FIG. 9. A print example on a surface of journal paper on which data is printed by the journal device is shown in FIG. 10(a), while a print example on the reverse side of the journal paper is shown in FIG. 10(b).
With reference to FIG. 9, the conventional journal device recited in the literature includes a printing unit 308a for printing product data, a retrieval mark forming means 308b for printing a retrieval mark for use in retrieving journal data on journal paper, and a sensor 311 for use in the retrieval of journal data to detect a retrieval mark 331 attached to the journal paper by the retrieval mark forming means 308b.
Operation of thus structured conventional journal device will be described.
When sales data is transmitted from an ECR or a POS to the journal device, a driving means of the journal device takes up journal paper 321 to run the same. The printing unit 308a prints the transmitted sales data on a new area appearing on the journal paper 321 being taken up. Upon completion of the printing of the sales data, the retrieval mark forming means 308b prints the retrieval mark 331 at a position behind the printed sales data as shown in FIGS. 10 (a) and (b). Thereafter, as new sales data is printed, the journal paper on which sales data is printed further runs to be taken up by a take-up unit 313.
At the time of retrieval of journal data printed on the journal paper, the taken up journal paper 321 on which data is printed is set to a mounting unit 312, the tip of the journal paper 321 is rolled around the take-up unit 313 and a retrieval start instruction is transmitted from the ECR or the POS. Upon reception of the retrieval start instruction by the journal device, the journal paper 321 is taken up from the mounting unit 312 by the take-up unit 313 to run. At this time, the mark detecting sensor 311 monitors passage of a retrieval mark attached to the journal paper. Then, upon detection of the retrieval mark 331 by the mark detecting sensor 311, the journal device stops the running of the journal paper 321 to enter a data ascertainment state.
However, since a retrieval mark printed on journal paper by the above-described conventional journal device is of one kind, every time the mark detecting sensor detects the retrieval mark, the journal paper stops running to require ascertainment of the contents. Take-up of the journal paper and ascertainment of the contents therefore should be repeated until target data is found. In other words, while running and forwarding the journal paper is automatically conducted, checking data one by one is similarly conducted to the manual retrieval by the above-described journal device with no automatic retrieval function. As a result, it will take a long time to find target data.
In addition, since journal paper take-up direction is limited to one direction, retrieving data on journal paper in use needs the journal paper to be cut off in the middle of it and to be set again to a mounting unit and a take-up unit. This procedure requires much labor for retrieval.
A further disadvantage is that when journal paper is cut off in the middle of it, resetting the remaining part of the journal paper not printed to the mounting unit and the take-up unit results in generation of an useless part on the reset journal paper which will be taken up by the take-up unit without printing.